Vijay Keshav Gokhale, the 1981-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been appointed the new Foreign Secretary of India. He will succeed S Jaishankar, whose term ends on January 28, 2018. Currently, he is Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He has also held the post of India’s ambassador to China during the term of the Narendra Modi government. Before that, he served as India’s envoy to Germany and Hong Kong. Above all, he is known for his fluency in the Chinese language, as well as his long experience in dealing with East Asia, and China in particular. He has served as Director (China and East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and went on to be Joint Secretary (East Asia). Gokhale is the only IFS to have served as India’s Representative both in Taiwan and China.